The Life Of Art, Reimagined
The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful, to get a surge of inner life or inner supply or unexpected sense of empowerment, to be afloat, to be out of yourself. — Seamus Heaney
To create a work of art is to create the world. — Wassily Kandinsky
Number seventeen in a twenty part series. Click here to listen:
Number sixteen in a twenty part series.
Click here for audio entry:
Our fifteenth in a twenty part series. To listen, click here:
“Blessing wants to land somewhere, to locate a body and go to work.’— Lia Purpura
Our fourteenth in a twenty part series. Click here to listen:
This week’s recommended links:
Essay at Emergence.com: The Creatures of the World Have Not Been Chastened by Lia Purpura
Poem on Gratefulness.org: Where We Are Headed by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer
“How do you fix a place, a problem, a person—anything at all?
By rejecting the bad and embracing the good.
If so, you have two possible strategies:
You could focus on all that is bad, ugly and diseased, scraping it away and chasing it out, so that eventually all that’s left is pure and healthy.
Or you could focus on whatever is still healthy and functional, embracing it, fortifying it and using it for its true purpose, so that eventually the dark crust in which it was imprisoned simply falls away.
Certainly, both strategies are necessary, and both have their time and place. But where do you begin?
It depends. When the human soul shines bright and strong, with just a few details out of place—then you can focus on discarding whatever bad remains.
But when everything is a mess, when the soul lies in a deep coma, when darkness rules in every cell—then to attack the disease head-on could prove fatal. Then you have no choice but to seek out the precious sparks of life that have survived.
Those are the most precious jewels, those hidden at the bottom of a dark mine.”
— Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
Our thirteenth installment in a twenty part series. Click here to listen:
“Awareness is the moment when we rise with eyes crusted from self-induced dreams of control, domination, victimization, and self-hatred to catch a glimpse of the divine in the face of “the other.” Then God’s self-identification, “I am that I am / I will be who I will be” (Exodus 3:14) becomes a liberating example of awareness, mutuality, and self-revelation.” — Barbara A. Holmes
Our twelfth installment in a twenty part series. Click here to listen:
This entry sponsored by a generous Koan Kin.
Thank you for your support.
We continue our journey.
The eleventh in a twenty-part series.
Click here to listen:
The Fourteen Precepts of Engaged Buddhism By Thich Nhat Hahn
From “Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism,” Revised edition: Oct. 1993 by Thich Nhat Hanh, published by Parallax Press, Berkeley, California.
“Reality” is constructed by your brain. Here’s what that means, and why it matters. ( from Vox.com )
“’It’s really important to understand we’re not seeing reality,’ says neuroscientist Patrick Cavanagh, a research professor at Dartmouth College and a senior fellow at Glendon College in Canada. ‘We’re seeing a story that’s being created for us.’
Most of the time, the story our brains generate matches the real, physical world — but not always. Our brains also unconsciously bend our perception of reality to meet our desires or expectations. And they fill in gaps using our past experiences.
All of this can bias us. Visual illusions present clear and interesting challenges for how we live: How do we know what’s real? And once we know the extent of our brain’s limits, how do we live with more humility — and think with greater care about our perceptions?”
Our tenth in a twenty part series.
This entry was supported by a generous, anonymous donor. Thank you for supporting this group committed to creative learning, growing, and awareness.
We’l be pausing for some breathing space at this halfway mark.
Recorded meditations will resume on Tuesday, June 23rd.
Audio reflection and meditation, click here:
Michael Bernard Beckwith — Agape International Spiritual Center
The Golden Key — PDF from Unity.org
Part nine in our twenty part series. Please check here to listen:
“Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.” — Joseph CAMPBELL
Audio reflection and meditation, click here:
